In a surgical operation, for example, in a neurosurgical operation, a detailed condition of a minute operative part on the surface of a brain is observed under a microscope and thereby the surgical operation is performed. In recent years, the surgical operation in which an endoscope inserted in the brain for the purpose of reducing the area of craniotomy is used has also been performed.
However, when both a surgical endoscope and a surgical microscope are individually arranged in an operating room, the space of the operating room is limited. Hence, in the surgical operation, for example, of neurosurgery, it becomes necessary to provide an observation apparatus switchable between a microscope observation and an endoscope observation without individually arranging both the surgical endoscope and the surgical microscope.
As conventional observation apparatuses constructed to be switchable between the microscope observation and the endoscope observation, stereoscopic observation apparatuses set forth, for example, in Japanese Patent Kokai Nos. Hei 6-167658 and 2005-134537 are available.
Each of the observation apparatuses described in Kokai Nos. Hei 6-167658 and 2005-134537 is designed to mount and dismount an endoscope to and from a microscope body and thereby to be switchable between the microscope observation (where the endoscope is dismounted) and the endoscope observation (where the endoscope is mounted).
In the surgical observation system, the observation apparatus for the endoscope or the microscope is supported by a supporting arm movable in a three-dimensional direction so that the observation apparatus is moved to a desired position and in a desired direction through the supporting arm by an operator in accordance with an operative condition and thereby the observation can be made. When the surgical observation system is used to perform the surgical operation, assistants are present in addition to the operator around a patient, and further a display device for displaying the image of an operative part, obtained through the observation apparatus, and various devices and tools used for the surgical operation are provided. Consequently, in order to make the observation apparatus hard to interfere with the operation assistants and the tools when the observation apparatus is moved to the desired position and in the desired direction by the operator in the surgical operation, it is important that the observation apparatus is designed to be the smallest possible size.
The observation apparatus set forth in Kokai No. Hei 6-167658, however, is constructed so that the endoscope is mounted to the top of the microscope body and thereby a changeover is made from the microscope observation to the endoscope observation. When the endoscope observation is thus carried out, an optical arrangement of the microscope body originally unnecessary for the endoscope remains as it is.
As a result, in the surgical observation system using the observation apparatus described in Kokai No. Hei 6-167658, when the endoscope observation is made, the observation apparatus is elongated in an observation direction and becomes oversize, and its maneuverability where the apparatus is moved through the supporting arm is deteriorated.
In the observation apparatus set forth in Kokai No. 2005-134537, a part of an optical path forming an intermediate imaging plane is bent in the interior of the endoscope. According to the observation apparatus set forth in Kokai No. 2005-134537, therefore, the size in the observation direction can be made smaller for the bent optical path than in the observation apparatus described in Kokai No. Hei 6-167658.
However, the observation apparatus set forth in Kokai No. 2005-134537, as well as the observation apparatus described in Kokai No. Hei 6-167658, is constructed so that the endoscope is mounted to the top of the microscope body and thereby the changeover is made from the microscope observation to the endoscope observation. When the endoscope observation is thus carried out, an optical arrangement of the microscope body originally unnecessary for the endoscope remains as it is.
As a result, even in the surgical observation system using the observation apparatus set forth in Kokai No. 2005-134537, when the endoscope observation is made, the observation apparatus is likewise elongated in the observation direction and becomes oversize although somewhat smaller than in the observation apparatus described in Kokai No. Hei 6-167658, and the deterioration of the maneuverability where the apparatus is moved through the supporting arm cannot be eliminated.
Furthermore, in the surgical observation system, when the observation apparatus is used to perform the surgical operation, it is necessary that a sterilization means for keeping off the infection of bacteria to a patient is used for the observation apparatus. In general, when the microscope surgical operation is performed, the microscope and the supporting arm supporting the microscope are covered with sterilization drapes. On the other hand, when the endoscope surgical operation is performed, the supporting arm supporting the endoscope is covered with the sterilization drape, and sterilization treatment, such as autoclaving or EOG, is applied to the endoscope.
However, each of the observation apparatuses set forth in Kokai Nos. Hei 6-167658 and 2005-134537, as mentioned above, is constructed so that when the endoscope observation is carried out, the endoscope is connected to the microscope body. Consequently, when the changeover is made between the microscope observation and the endoscope observation in the surgical operation, the sterilization drape covering the mounting portion of the microscope body must be mounted and dismounted each time the endoscope is mounted to, and dismounted from, the microscope body, and thus the surgical operation is interrupted accordingly and the operation time is extended. At the same time, changeover work from the microscope observation to the endoscope observation is complicated. Such interruption of the surgical operation and complication of the changeover work impose a mental load, such as stress, on the operator and a physical load on the patient.